Here in The Good Land I made my place beside the still waters. I became a tiller of the soil, a keeper of the flocks, and a hater of pigs.

Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.

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Saturday, March 23, 2013

March Meat Madness

Finally! One week and one day, two huge hogs, and hundreds of pounds of meat.... finally...March Meat Madness is over!

Chops. That's the way to get 'er done.

What a haul! Nope I didn't keep records this time but we had a huge, huge, huge, net busting, boat sinking, freezer busting haul. It's been all meat all the time. My kitchen is destroyed, every knife has been used, every kettle has earned it's keep, my meat saw needs a new blade...and there is not another plastic freezer bag to be found.

I still have a couple of buckets of lard to render and I found one more bucket of leavin's for the dogs...but mostly we are done. What a week!

A couple things we learned:

* By far these were our most expensive pigz. Our feed costs were off the charts due to the exceptionally high price of feed, the failure of Debbie the goat to produce any milk last summer, the shockingly hot summer that caused the hennies to stop laying, and the extra months that we kept those pigz around.
* Winter pigz are the worst. Chores sucked. Hauling water down the hill and constantly worrying if they were warm enough just wore us down. There wasn't enough for them to eat off pasture (once the weather turned) so we had to feed them everything they ate all winter. The mud was atrocious. Luckily they had plenty of dry ground but having a huge waterer down there and having to muck thru the mud everyday was just awful.
* We intentionally grew the pigz out extra big on purpose - but this was about at the top end of what we could handle alone. The carcasses were just too heavy even when they were gutted and skinned. Both of the pigz were over 300lbs - probably 320 - 350lbs.

So was it worth it?

Oh heck yeah! Holy pork what a haul! And those chops! And the bacons! Just extraordinary. Plus, have you seen how expensive meat is in the store? We nearly fell right over the other day when we peeped into the meat cooler at the local grocery. Every time food prices go up it makes our work here all the more valuable. Even if our costs to raise the pigs were high - they aren't near as high as having to buy meat in the store.

One of the smaller bacons.

So we stood there gawking at the expensive meat.....and then we burst out in hysterical laughter. I know I'm giving the meat guy a complex but we just think we are a scream standing there, slapping each other on the back, asking each other "Hey should we get some ham?" knowing full well that we had a freezer full of naturally raised meat at home.

One of these days....I will find someone to help me process at home. We too raised a winter pig. I agree...the WORST decision we have ever made. It wore me out!! I already have our little bacon bits for this year....got em early..we have 2 does in milk. YAY! And, pastures are greening up, even tho we are supposed to get a winter storm tomorrow. UGH! They are tucked in the barn, safe and warm, until the ground is for SURE going to stay...well...muddy. LOL What a great feeling knowing your next dinner is safe to eat, because you KNOW what it ate and how it was processed.

About Me

In my previous life I was a fussy, type-a tech gal..and now.. now here I am in the flyover zone on a farm. I gave up my Big Life and I became a tiller of the soil, a keeper of the flocks, and a hater of pigs.

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